memeorandum: Family mourns transgender woman who died after eating seeds from ‘suicide tree’ (Allison Yang/New York's PIX11)

5:55 PM ET, March 2, 2016

Top Items:

Nick Gehring / bencarson.com:

Official Statement by Dr. Ben Carson — I have decided not to attend the Fox News GOP Presidential Debate tomorrow night in Detroit. Even though I will not be in my hometown of Detroit on Thursday, I remain deeply committed to my home nation, America. I do not see a political path forward …

Robert Costa / Washington Post:

Ben Carson tells supporters he sees no ‘path forward’ for presidential campaign — Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who briefly led the Republican presidential race before his campaign began an extended public implosion, told his supporters in a statement Wednesday afternoon that he does not see a …

Dylan Matthews / Vox:
Ben Carson is essentially ending his campaign. Here's how it all went wrong.

Discussion: CNN, FiveThirtyEight, Right Wing Watch and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Ben Carson to end presidential campaign

Discussion: Washington Post, Associated Press, Western Journalism and Refinery29

Tarini Parti / BuzzFeed:

Establishment Republicans Are Furious With John Kasich — WASHINGTON — On Tuesday night as return after return came in and Marco Rubio failed to break through, many establishment Republicans grew angrier that John Kasich was still in the race. — One of them was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell …

Discussion: RedState, Daily Kos, Crain's Cleveland Business, Slantpoint, New York Magazine, The Week and NBC News

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

The GOP has two weeks to take down Donald Trump — The window for stopping Donald Trump closed almost completely Tuesday night, leaving the demoralized anti-Trump forces with two weeks and no agreed-upon strategy for denying the New York billionaire the Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press, The Cook Political Report, New York Times, CNN, FiveThirtyEight, U.S. News, Hullabaloo, Outside the Beltway, ThinkProgressPage Array, Western Journalism, Prairie Weather, Featured stories, Scared Monkeys and Common Dreams

Bloomberg Business:

Romney to Lay Out Case Against Trump in Speech Thursday — The party's 2012 presidential nominee will argue against allowing the billionaire front-runner follow in his footsteps. — michaelcbender — justinsink — The rapidly intensifying effort by the Republican establishment …

Discussion: USA Today, Tampa Bay Times, The Last Refuge, Florida Politics, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Business Insider and New York Times

Isaac Chotiner / Slate:
What Went Wrong for Marco Rubio

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Western Journalism, The Huffington Post and Politico

Fox News:
Romney to deliver major speech on 2016 race

Discussion: Western Journalism, Guardian, Vox and The Daily Caller

Tré Goins-Phillips / TheBlaze.com:
'It's Unstoppable': Glenn Beck Lays Out His 2016 ‘Dream Team’

Discussion: Glenn Beck, Western Journalism and Right Wing Watch

Washington Post:
Mitt Romney to address the 2016 presidential campaign Thursday

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Western Journalism and Moe Lane

John Nolte / Breitbart: Kristol Lays Out Strategy to Give White House to Hillary: Trump 'Shouldn't Win'

Mike Allen / Politico:
Romney to give speech on state of presidential race

Discussion: Trail Blazers Blog, Hot Air, RealClearPolitics, Mediaite, Political Insider blog and Associated Press

Eli Stokols / Politico:
The day the Republican Party ruptured

Discussion: MSNBC, New York Times, New Milford Spectrum, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Booman Tribune, Mondoweiss, Associated Press, National Review, Mother Jones and Vox

Joshua Miller / BostonGlobe.com:

Charlie Baker won't vote for Donald Trump in November — NORTH ANDOVER — Massachusetts Republican Governor Charlie Baker, under pressure from Democrats and the news media to take a position on whether he would publicly support Donald J. Trump, should he be the GOP presidential nominee …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Boston Globe, Washington Monthly, Politico and The Week

Tom Hamburger / Washington Post:
GOP strategist Castellanos: Time to rally around Trump, ‘too late to ask mommy to step in and rewrite rules’

Discussion: New York Magazine

Lauren Fox / Talking Points Memo: Harry Reid Savages Republicans For Making Trump

Asbury Park Press:
Beck to Christie: Serve NJ or campaign, not both

Discussion: New York Times, New Jersey News …, Vox, New York Magazine and NPR

Julian Zelizer / CNN:
Van Jones rips Donald Trump and the KKK

Discussion: New York Times and Vox

KFOR-TV:

Police: Former CEO of Chesapeake Aubrey McClendon killed in car wreck — OKLAHOMA CITY - Police officers confirm that a man killed in a car wreck early Wednesday morning is the former CEO of Chesapeake Aubrey McClendon — On Wednesday, firefighters were called to a car wreck on Midwest Blvd., between Memorial and 122nd St.

Discussion: CNBC, NBC News, The Daily Caller, fox13now.com and Q13 FOX News

Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:

Police: McClendon crashed traveling at ‘high rate of speed’ — Fmr. Chesapeake CEO killed in car crash — Former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon, was killed in a car accident early on Wednesday in Oklahoma City, as announced in a police press conference.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Politico, Raw Story, The Week, news9.com KWTV and Boone Pickens

U.S. Department of Justice:
Former CEO Indicted for Masterminding Conspiracy Not to Compete for Oil and Natural Gas Leases

Discussion: New York Magazine, New York Times, Deadspin and NPR

JAMES EDWARDS:

Political Cesspool Host James Edwards Reports From Inside Donald Trump's Press Pen — I attended a Donald Trump rally in Memphis on Saturday night as a fully credentialed member of the media and enjoyed the unique experience of being able to air a live broadcast of The Political Cesspool Radio Program …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Guardian, Mediaite, Warren Throckmorton, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

USA Today:

Tavis Smiley: Black America could get on Trump train — Hillary might look like a shoo-in with African-American voters, but don't be too sure. — With Hillary Clinton racking up more overwhelming victories in Super Tuesday primaries thanks to the overwhelming support of African-American voters …

Discussion: RedState, Rush Limbaugh and The Gateway Pundit

Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:

An “unapologetically pro-white” radio host was given press credentials by the Trump campaign. — 2.3k — 1.8k — “Political Cesspool” host James Edwards thinks that slavery was the greatest thing that ever happened to black people. He also thinks that Donald Trump is the greatest thing …

Discussion: ThinkProgressPage Array, Politico, Politicus USA, JAMES EDWARDS and The Resurgent

Howard Sheppard / WPMT FOX43:

86-year-old woman accidentally hangs herself with medical alert necklace — CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. - An 86-year-old Cumberland County woman is dead after she trips and is accidentally hanged by her medical alert necklace. It happened on February 15. — County Coroner Charles Hall …

Discussion: WGN-TV and KTLA

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / New York Times:

White House Said to Be Vetting Appeals Court Judge for Supreme Court Seat — WASHINGTON — The White House is vetting Jane L. Kelly, a career public defender turned federal appellate judge, as a potential nominee for the Supreme Court, as President Obama closes in on a decision that could reshape …

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, The Week, Daily Kos, KWQC-TV and Business Insider

Jordan Rudner / The Texas Tribune:

Travis County GOP Apoplectic Over New Chairman … The newly elected chair of the Republican Party in the county that includes the Texas Capitol spent most of election night tweeting about former Gov. Rick Perry's sexual orientation and former President Bill Clinton's penis …

Discussion: Trail Blazers Blog, The Week, Jezebel, No More Mister Nice Blog and RedState

Sara Jerde / Talking Points Memo:
Texas County GOP Implodes Over Newly-Elected Chairman's Crude Tweets

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Trail Blazers Blog

Edward Rollins / Fox News:
Trump is now unstoppable. It's game over for Cruz, Rubio, Kasich and Carson

Discussion: Washington Post, The Other McCain and New York Magazine

Allison Yang / New York's PIX11:

Family mourns transgender woman who died after eating seeds from ‘suicide tree’ — CALUMET CITY, Ill. — A mother of a 22-year-old transgender woman is warning other parents to beware of a deadly seed from an Asian plant called the “suicide tree.” — Two weeks ago, Natosha Anderson found …

New York Daily News:

KING: As violence erupts at Super Tuesday Trump rally, it's only a matter of time before someone gets killed at future events — On Monday, 30 black students attending a Donald Trump rally at Valdosta State University in rural Georgia were forcefully ejected — simply for being black.

Discussion: Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Traditionalist Youth Network, Right Wing Watch, theGrio, Death and TaxesDeath and Taxes, addictinginfo.org and Daily Kos

Christina Mora / WLKY-TV:
Supporters, protesters clash at Donald Trump's Louisville rally

Discussion: New York Daily News and Fusion

Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:

Chris Christie's wordless screaming — Is Chris Christie okay? — I believe that Donald Trump was talking, tonight, and that he, in fact, held an entire press conference. But it was impossible to hear him over Chris Christie's eyes. — Chris Christie spent the entire speech screaming wordlessly.

Discussion: Associated Press, Gawker, Wall Street Journal, Hit & Run, Vox, Yahoo Politics and USA Today

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Trump On His Trump U Blog: “Outsourcing Jobs... Not Always A Terrible Thing” — “Outsourcing Creates Jobs in the Long Run.” — John Moore / Getty Images — In his speech after his victory on Super Tuesday Republican frontrunner Donald Trump said he'd stop American jobs from moving overseas …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Daily Caller

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

Democrats to Clinton: Don't laugh off Trump threat — It's time to stop pointing and laughing at the Republican primary. For all the GOP front-runner's flaws, many veteran Democrats are beginning to conclude, Donald Trump is a canny operator who just might end up in the White House if they're not careful.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hot Air, Althouse, No More Mister Nice Blog and New York Times

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Appears Sharply Divided as It Hears Texas Abortion Case — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared sharply and perhaps evenly divided in its first major abortion case in almost a decade, one that has the potential to revise constitutional standards and to affect millions of women.